by Matt Mattson
I have an idea that could change the world. Now I need people to help me make it real. How do I grow my group?
I have this small group of thoughtful committed citizens who really care about something. But we need more of us. How do I grow my group?
I meet regularly with some people who have similar experiences to mine — and it helps us all heal. We know there are more people like us. How do I grow my group?
I have found some people on Twitter and Facebook who agree with me about an issue. I think we could really make a difference if we had more support. How do I grow my group?
I’ve found a few people who are willing to donate to our cause. We need more though. How do I grow my group?
I’m a part of this really cool club of really cool people. We only want the best. How do I grow my group?
OMG, I’m a huge fan of this super special superstar. I’m sure others will be too. How do I grow my group?
An injustice is being done. I know I’m not the only one who thinks so. If I gather others together we can stop it. How do I grow my group?
This is why we exist. This is why we created Social Excellence and Dynamic Recruitment . We grow groups. Our PURPOSE is to help PEOPLE achieve their PURPOSE by gathering more PURPOSE-driven PEOPLE around them. People + Purpose = Organization. Organizations change the world.
[A Blog for Fraternity/Sorority Headquarters Professionals]
I’ll never forget that breakfast.
All nine new Pi Kappa Phi staff paid very special attention to laying out our shirts, ties, suits and the shine on our shoes the night before breakfast, and we were like anxious little kids trying to sleep on Christmas eve. Visions were dancing through my head about one of my fellow new staffers winning a golden ticket from Willy Wonka, and he was taking me + 8 others with him to a breakfast with chocolate pancakes… ok maybe I just wanted chocolate pancakes for breakfast, and it wasn’t Willy Wonka, but that breakfast sure left an impression on me (and our breakfast host was truly a magical person).
In those first weeks of our fraternity staff training we were destined to dine with a legend. His demeanor and style were classic southern gentlemen. He imparted eternal wisdom on "Why life was too short to drink cheap beer”, and he impressively offered a diverse mix of nearly 100 quotes from memory. He shared and modeled the behavior for numerous world class attributes of high performing people during their career.
Taking notes was not optional — it was paramount. My breakfast with Durward Owen (Pi Kappa Phi, CEO Emeritus) was one of the fond early memories of summer training. He challenged me to think, he challenged me to be like those successful people he spoke of. It left a deep impression on me I still carry today.
Question 1) What are the two most meaningful experiences or gestures you learned from when joining the fraternity/sorority staff?
Question 2) What are the small details you need to keep focused on in planning your summer training for new staff this month?
Let me offer another perspective from the creative world of Apple. At Apple every new employee receive this inspirational note on their 1st day: http://t.co/dGtRrUP
There’s work and there‘s your life’s work
The kind of work that has your fingerprints all over it.
The kind of work that you’d never compromise on. That you’d sacrifice a weekend for.
You can do that kind of work at Apple.
People don’t come here to play it safe.
They come here to swim in the deep end.
They want their work to add up to something.
Something big. Something that couldn’t’ happen anywhere else.
Welcome to Apple.
From breakfast with a legend, to receiving a letter on your first day of work, what themes will your new staff members be able to associate with your organizational culture?
Thinking in the context of the Apple letter:
What will your note say to a new staff member in the coming days and weeks? (Personally I’d love to see some examples of a note or letter posted on our FB page or tweet us a picture)
For me that breakfast with Durward Owen taught me two things I could expect about working for Pi Kappa Phi.
1. A vision of how I should approach each day on staff with style, character and world class attributes.
2. It told me how other team members would conduct themselves and pursue excellence by a choice.
These small touches, like a breakfast or a note in the early days, make such a difference.
So let me ask you again… What are the small details you need to keep focused on in planning your summer training for new staff? Have you put your best effort into planning your summer training yet?
How we start often communicates who we really are. Are you making the new staff experience better?
For summer training ideas and advice Woody can be reached here .
Dynamic Recruitment Spotlight, June 2012
by Josh Orendi
Wait! You thought University of Illinois was the largest fraternity and sorority community in the nation? Us, too. It looks like there’s a new #1. Roll Tide!
In fall 2011, 7,217 Alabama students proudly wore Greek letters. That’s 28% of the student population on a campus of nearly 27,000 undergrads. To be fair to our friends at Illinois, Alabama does not have the most chapters. The Illini still hold that record. Alabama has 55 chapters and growing … fast.
We had the pleasure of interviewing Kat Gillan, Director of Greek Affairs, and Dr. Lowell Davis, Assistant Dean of Students. They gave us the inside story on how Alabama’s fraternity and sorority community has more than doubled in size over the last 14 years to become the largest Greek campus in the country.
Phired Up: More than doubled! Really?
Bama: It’s true. We’re growing fast. We’ve more than doubled, nearly tripled in size since 1998. We’re relentless about tracking around here. I can give you just about any number you can think of in the last 10 years.
Phired Up: I’d love to see the big picture numbers.
Bama: Here you go.
2011- 2012 Alabama Fraternity & Sorority Community by the Numbers:
26,234 undergraduate student population
7,217 total students in Greek letter organizations
32% of women are affiliated with a sorority
23% of men are affiliated with a fraternity
32 fraternities
24 sororities
98 members average fraternity chapter size
267 members average sorority chapter size (formal recruitment groups)
24 of 27 IFC chapters housed (23 average house capacity)
18 of 18 NPC sororities are housed
Phired Up: With growth like this you must be the target of a lot of expansion and extension inquiries.
Bama: Yes, and we embrace it! On the women’s side, Delta Gamma (Fall 2011) and Alpha Phi (Fall 2008) recently colonized and we’re eager to open for more sorority extension. On the men’s side, we have 6 national fraternities scheduled to expand in the next 4 semesters.
Phired Up: Are you scared about growing too fast?
Bama: No. We focus on supporting our existing groups, but we also value what new colonies bring to our campus. We’d love to have more sororities, but housing is proving to be a challenge since we don’t have existing buildings large enough to hold them. On the fraternity side, we honor the NIC Standards of open expansion and work with the national fraternity headquarters to create plans that will allow them to better communicate with each other. That way we can help maximize their success when they believe it’s the right time for their organization to be on our campus.
Phired Up: No doubt we have people reading this article who can’t imagine the size of your average chapters or scale of your total community, but can you speak to the “quality” of your groups?
Bama: I believe that we’re a case study proving that “quality” and “quantity” are not mutually exclusive. For example, our sorority women have had a GPA above the all-women’s GPA for 84 consecutive years. Our fraternities and sororities rallied together after the April 27, 2011, tornadoes to establish what became UA Greek Relief – a project that contributed more than 1/3 of the total relief to Alabama families and volunteers in the early weeks of the disaster. Individual chapters and the UA community as a whole have been recognized for excellence by national organizations and association award panels. From the classroom to the chapter house and from the community to the brotherhood/sisterhood experience, we’re proud of what we’re seeing.
Phired Up: How big are the largest groups?
Bama: At their largest, Alpha Tau Omega had around 180 men on their chapter roster and Phi Mu had 302 members. The men’s groups will add approximately 30 members in the fall. The average sorority will take a new member class of around 100 women.
Phired Up: That thud you heard was my chin hitting the table. 302 members? 100 new members!!?
Bama: [courtesy laughing] Those are big numbers. We know. Our office is putting a lot of emphasis on new member education and making sure every member has a quality brotherhood/sisterhood experience.
Phired Up: How big are the houses?
Bama: The newest sorority houses that were recently built are around 40,000 square feet and sleep roughly 70 women. Most of the men’s facilities are around 27,000 square feet and sleep at least 20 members. 12 new chapter houses have been built on campus since 2008 and nearly every existing chapter house has undergone some level of renovation.
Phired Up: 12 new chapter houses have been built in less than 5 years! How is that possible?
Bama: The University of Alabama really partners with Greek life in this area. The University views these houses as additional on-campus housing and has added around 500 new beds to Greek Housing. With increased memberships, the Alumni housing corporations can develop business plans that allow them to financially support the housing projects.
Phired Up: My chin was already on the table, now my eyes are bugging out. Seriously!?
Bama: It’s happened fast but it didn’t happen overnight. We’ve been preparing for growth. The University of Alabama is very pro-Greek. We believe in the fraternal movement all the way up the chain of command. We also have amazing Greek alumni and strong vendor partnerships. For example, Pennington and Company has led nearly every chapter fundraising campaign in the last decade. They were an important part of helping us craft our current policies. More recently Laurus group has done a few, too. We count on our business partners, alumni volunteers, undergraduates, headquarters, and university staff all working together. It’s working.
Bama: We gotta jump in and highlight something we’re really proud of. An honorary member of Phi Delta Theta Fraternity, Dr. Robert Witt [former University President and now UA System Chancellor], is a recent recipient of the NIC Laurel Wreath Award, and UA’s interim President, Dr. Judy Bonner, a member of the Beta Psi Chapter at UA, was instrumental in Delta Gamma’s recent colonization. We are so blessed to have an administration that is so supportive of Greek life. That’s critical! So much of our success would be impossible to re-create without the support we see from the upper administration.
Phired Up: You mentioned “university staff.” Do you have a large team of campus professionals charged with supporting Greek life?
Bama: [chuckling] No. We have 3 full-time professional staff members funded by the University and 2 graduate students funded by our Councils.
Phired Up: How are you able to do so much with so few staff members?
Bama: We work really hard, but we also lean heavily on our partnerships with other campus departments. For example, I think a major part of our growth is due to our close relationship with the Admissions team.
Phired Up: Tell me about that.
Bama: Here are three examples.
1. Our office collaborates with the UA Office of Undergraduate Admissions and members of the Greek Governing Councils to host out-of-state recruitment events in Texas, Florida, and Georgia. These Greek-specific events introduce hundreds of incoming students and their parents to our fraternity/sorority members and the idea of joining a Greek organization.
2. Greek Preview Day has become a huge success, and is now an annual tradition that potential members look forward to attending each year. This year our IFC and Panhellenic Councils hosted 3,001 incoming students and their parents, providing a weekend full of house tours, meals, information sharing, and building relationships.
3. The Regional Recruiters who work in the Office of Undergraduate Admissions always help our office identify potential members. When prospective students indicate to their Recruiter that they are interested in Greek life, those students are offered the opportunity to meet with someone from our trained team of Greek Ambassadors. Last year UA Greek Ambassadors toured 339 students around campus, walked them through Greek housing, and talked to them about the recruitment process.
Phired Up: You’re building a recruitment machine. How many new members will join this year?
Bama: We’re projecting and planning for 2500+ new members to join the UA Greek community.
Phired Up: Does everyone join in the fall?
Bama: The women use a formally structured recruitment process in the fall. Release Figure Methodology (RFM), which was first implemented in 2005, has worked wonders for our campus. Since 2009, all Panhellenic sororities are consistently achieving Quota and Total. The IFC men’s process is not formal at all. Most of the fraternities recruit throughout the spring and give bids in the summer. Incoming students, transfer students, and even upperclassmen can either choose to hold their bids, accept it or decline it. Our only requirement is that pledging cannot officially begin until the fall semester and no program may last longer than 8 weeks. Our NPHC and UGC organizations host Membership Intake throughout the year.
Phired Up: So every new member joins in the fall?
Bama: No, but most men join early in the year. There is also a smaller spring recruitment push in January and February. Some chapters choose to recruit throughout the year.
Phired Up: How big do you think the Greek Community can get?
Bama: We’re a growing institution. The goal is for UA to reach 35,000 students by 2020. Our projection is that fraternities and sororities will grow at least as fast as student enrollment. The Greek Community brings a lot of value to our students, alumni, community, and the culture of The University of Alabama experience. Given that, there are no plans of slowing down anytime soon.
Phired Up: Roll Tide.
Bama: Roll Tide!
Interview Date: June 11, 2012
Interview Conducted By: Josh Orendi, Josh@PhiredUp.com
Interviewing Kat Gillan and Dr Lowell Davis
Do you think your growth story is worthy of a Spotlight Interview? Contact us at Info@PhiredUp.com.
Dynamic Recruitment Spotlight Archives:
• How Alcohol (or the lack thereof) is Helping One Fraternity Grow Fast
• Meet the Fastest Growing Fraternity in the Nation: Alpha Sigma Phi 60% Growth Rate Per Year!
• Social Media Cards – High Point University
• Sigma Tau Gamma Expansion Recruits 62 Men at Purdue University
• 19 to 90 in 18 Months? (Alpha Gamma Rho, LSU)
Recruitment [v] rɪˈ kru:ːtmənt - to engage in finding and attracting employees, new members, students, athletes, etc. (source: Dictionary.com)
All organizations recruit. Especially cause-based groups like fraternities and sororities — they depend upon attracting high quality people to achieve their cause. This includes culturally-based fraternal organizations ((like NPHC, NALFO, NMGC, NAPA, etc.)
But each organization has unique strengths and challenges. How can culturally-based groups (and the people who support them) know where to focus their energy to ensure they have a system to attract the right quantity of high quality members?
Phired Up is proud to announce the release of a CHAPTER RECRUITMENT DIAGNOSTICS TEST specifically designed for culturally-based fraternities and sororities (access the new diagnostics test here ). If you know of a culturally-based fraternity or sorority that desires to attract a higher quantity of high quality members, please share this new resource with them.
This resource accompanies the previously released diagnostics tests (read about those here ). The new test for culturally-based organizations was designed and tested by the Culturally-Based Fraternity/Sorority Growth Task Force — read their consensus report here .
by Josh Orendi
What if an entire national fraternity chose to operate 100% alcohol free? I can imagine the heated reactions of undergrads and alumni. Seriously. Try to picture it – a nationwide vote to abolish alcohol from every chapter house across the country. Next, imagine if that organization had the fortitude to stick with their alcohol free decision for over a decade. Who would want to join? Would current members stay? Is alcohol-free housing a death sentence or a bold, sustainable reinvention of fraternity? Thanks to Phi Delta Theta , we have the answer.
I scheduled time to talk with Associate Executive Vice President Sean Wagner and Director of Expansion Demarcko Butler to ask them about the impact of bold decisions in recent years at Phi Delt and to see if they plan to shake things up again anytime soon. What I learned is there’s more than a story of alcohol-free housing. This is a fraternity with a history of doing things differently, leading by example, and YES they are preparing to go big again….
Phired Up: Let’s start with the numbers. How did alcohol-free housing impact recruitment?
Phi Delt: Here are some benchmark numbers…
1997: Alcohol free decision was made.
2000: Alcohol free policy fully adopted.
2000 - 2012: 23% annual increase in new members and 16% increase per year in initiates
2012: We’re up 14% from last year and reached 4000 new members this year for the first time in over 20 years.
Perhaps the most impressive number of all is that our average colony/chapter size is 64 members. That’s significant since the national average hovers around the low to mid 40’s.
Phired Up: Are you experiencing positive growth trends with your expansion efforts?
Phi Delt: Yes. We have installed 60 chapters since 2000. In the last year we’ve installed 8 new groups at an average size of 41 new members.
Phired Up: What implications did that historic alcohol-free decision have on the organization other than recruitment?
Phi Delt: Ed Whipple, who is currently a fellow for NASPA and formerly was the VP of Student Affairs at BGSU and a former President of our General Council, did some significant research for us both at our 5-year anniversary in 2005 and an update to mark the 10th anniversary in 2010. Without getting into all of the details, beyond recruitment, some of the most impressive findings included an increased GPA as now 25% of our chapters are tops on their campus in the classroom and an increase in alumni involvement as we now have 55% more alumni involved with our chapters than we did in 1997 when the policy was introduced.
Phired Up: The alumni involvement piece is really interesting. Tell me more about that.
Phi Delt: We heard from alumni in the past that they weren’t getting involved because our houses weren’t a place they felt comfortable spending their time as a professional. Now they’re giving both their time and treasure. Alumni giving is at an all-time high. Since 1997 when the policy was introduced and today, our Foundation has experienced its best years including last year which was our 2nd highest in total contributions. Also, while we don’t track local giving, Pennington and Company has helped our local house corporations raise $7.5 million between 2005 and today.
In addition to our houses being nicer, they are also safer; we averaged 12.3 alcohol claims prior to 2000 and today we average less than three a year. Liability insurance costs have come down substantially offering a much more affordable experience for our members. Today the average insurance rate for fraternities hovers around $160 per member; our rate is almost half that at $78 when you factor in both initiated and new members.
Phired Up: If numbers are up and Phi Delt is experiencing all these additional benefits, why aren’t more fraternities following your example on alcohol?
Phi Delt: That’s a question you’d have to ask them, but it has obviously worked for us and we’re very proud of the results. In the meantime, we’re very happy to have created a bit of a niche. All Greek letter organizations were roughly founded on similar principles but by taking alcohol directly out of our value proposition from a living environment standpoint, we’re happy to be offering an opportunity that our EVP Bob Biggs famously calls a “learning-living laboratory.”
Phired Up: Is alcohol-free housing the biggest reason Phi Delt has grown so consistently?
Phi Delt: More than anything I believe that by removing alcohol from our facilities we have been able to focus on things that make us a better organization. While there is still a great deal of risk management education that we do and incidents do come up, our chapters, volunteers, and staff no longer regularly focus on incidents involving alcohol we have all been able to broaden our focus.
From a chapter standpoint, we hear from our members that they have gotten outside of their houses for social activity and have become more involved on their campus which has helped build relationships and bigger Phikeia (that’s what we call our new members) classes. From a staff standpoint, our collective hand in the increased numbers is due to the programming that we’ve been able to do because we haven’t been constantly “putting out fires.” This includes creating new recruitment training, online education, a new branding campaign, alumni loyalty program, a large virtual footprint in social media, the Iron Phi program, and much more.
Phired Up: Tell me more about Iron Phi. A lot of readers may not be familiar with that program.
Phi Delt: The Iron Phi program is homegrown, born out of the MBA program and brain of long-time staff member Steve Good. Steve’s great idea was to harness the tremendous enthusiasm and pride that we have for Lou Gehrig as arguably our most famous alumnus and a partnership with The ALS Association, and channel that into a program that challenges our members to take on an athletic challenge and raise money for the fight against ALS and the Phi Delta Theta Foundation. It’s working! We’ve raised approximately $310k since February 2010 while giving Phis a chance to do some good and work towards a personal goal.
[Sean] I wouldn’t call myself a runner, but I participated with a number of staff members in a relay team during Cincinnati’s Flying Pig Marathon in 2010 and raised $1000 while doing it. Demarkco is still trying to earn his Iron Phi Stripes…..
Phired Up: When I talk to the technology vendors servicing national fraternities, most point to Phi Delt as being an early leader from website development and social media adoption to webinars and online education. What’s the story?
Phi Delt: In technology our recipe for success has been to experiment and to follow the trends. We thank the folks at the Group Interactive Networks (GIN) for helping us cut our teeth on our chapter website templates in 2007. We learned through that while our undergraduate members were using technology every day in everything that they do, they didn’t necessarily know how to use it in their fraternity experience. From there we set out to do our best to serve as a model example from a General Fraternity standpoint. This included going for it with Facebook and everything else that has come along since, including Twitter, LinkedIn, FourSquare, and more. If our members are using it to connect to their world, we need to at least attempt to see if it makes sense to as tool to connect them to Phi Delt. By doing this we’re sharing best practices with chapters so they know better how to use the web for connecting with potential new members and their constituents.
Online education was a similar thing, our advisers were using online education for professional training and we were still sending them paper manuals. We needed to catch-up. Now we have a Chapter Advisory Board Certification program for 8 different positions. Since we launched it in March of 2011 we’ve had 498 advisers certified.
Phired Up: I keep seeing blue Phi Delt marketing materials with “Become the Greatest Version of Yourself” on campuses, social media, t-shirts. Tell me the full story behind the new branding campaign.
Phi Delt: Our governing board, the General Council, provided the tremendous leadership in 2010 to introduce a strategic plan in 2010 called Phi Delt 2020 that has six comprehensive initiatives, but we knew quickly in order to talk about what we wanted to do, we needed to get our messaging down. We feel like we always had a great story to tell, but didn’t necessarily do a good job at telling it.
To find our voice we wanted to find some folks outside of the industry, so we hired Pocket Hercules out of Minneapolis. Their principles Jack Supple and Jason Smith had worked on a little brand called Harley Davidson before starting what they call “The Pocket.” After quite a bit of internal and environmental research, they came up with “Become the Greatest Version of Yourself” as our tagline and the “Sword and Shield” as our primary external logo. The tagline was rooted in the research and feedback that our prospective, current, and alumni members provided along with sorority women that spoke to Phi Delt building better men. This was understood whether they knew it personally or had experienced through interacting with our members. We liked the line because it wasn’t boasting or being over the top with alcohol-free housing, it was aspirational and described the opportunity you’re getting when you sign a Phi Delt bid card. This isn’t something that is for everyone, but an experience that top tier students on campus seek out to help them develop an individual.
Once the key assets were determined we set out to build a campaign that included an overhaul to our web presence, recruitment materials, and how we would communicate about ourselves in all ways. To ensure that we had the brand in the hands of our chapter members as quickly as possible, we worked with a company called Advanced Online to build the PhiDeltStore to provide branded recruitment items and apparel. We are still in the process of assessing the roll-out, but anecdotally the feedback couldn’t be better from our members and constituents. The next wave in branding for us will be to use the brand in such a way that that we are generating demand and creating better overall awareness of the organization outside of our core audience.
Phired Up: Back to the alcohol-free and recruitment conversation … Demarcko, your job is literally to recruit hundreds of men into new colonies of the organization every year. How do you tell a guy that he can’t have a beer in his room if he wants to become a Phi Delt?
Phi Delt: When an expansion project starts, our process is to recruit the highest caliber men in the areas of academics, involvement, service, athletics, etc. Those individuals are either already on board with the policy of alcohol-free housing or they see it as an added bonus toward them continuing to make an impact at their particular institution.
Phired Up: Most national fraternities are proud to recruit 25 – 35 new members into a colony. Is the same true for Phi Delt given the added restriction on alcohol?
Phi Delt: Our minimum standard for recruitment is at least 40 men. The expansion team looks for the “never joiners” and of course the “maybe joiners”. We use Dynamic Recruitment with a focus on the first cylinder (referrals) – sororities, coaches, faculty, etc. Our expansion team has literally interviewed hundreds of college men. We quickly realized that the best people are no longer looking for the fraternity to be a drinking club. The students who are attracted to Phi Delta Theta want to “Become the Greatest Version of Themselves!” They want to defy the stereotypes that their campus has already in Greek Life. We are looking for “fraternity men” NOT “frat stars.”
Phired Up: It’s clear that Phi Delt isn’t afraid to be different, make bold choices, and stick with them for the long haul. What do we have to look forward to from Phi Delt in the next few years?
Phi Delt: Our mantra around here is that the Phi Delt 2020 plan is our “north star.” We have gotten laser focused. If a new proposal doesn’t fit into one of our strategic initiatives, we aren’t doing it! You can expect Phi Delt to further emphasize chapter growth and retention, a standardized new member program that leverages new technologies, enhanced branding efforts, and programming in the networking and mentoring space. We’re doing all of this while ramping up our fundraising efforts with a goal of $20 million by 2020. Alcohol-free housing helped us get where we are today and Phi Delt 2020 is the plan shaping the course for our future.
Phired Up: Demarcko, wanna go grab a beer with me?
Phi Delt: Sure, but not in a Phi Delt chapter house.
Article Written By: Josh Orendi, CEO, Phired Up Productions (www.PhiredUp.com)
Interviewing: Sean Wagner & Demarcko Butler of Phi Delta Theta Fraternity (www.PhiDeltaTheta.org)
Published May 23, 2012
By Matt Mattson
Wondering what this whole BE THE PERSON | 2012 event is all about? We’ve called it an “anti-conference,” we’ve said it is about leadership, organizational success, creating a movement within the college community, Social Excellence, and becoming an Every|Day Hero. That sounds cool, but you’re probably having a hard time picturing what it will really be like… Why does this event matter to you?
Well, first of all thanks to the MANY people who are already registered. We’ve been blown away by the amount of people who want to share in this unique experience. If you would like to join them, register at www.BETHEPERSON2012.com.
Meanwhile, allow me to provide a little insight into this event… Let’s start with four learning outcomes…
After a powerful combination of Social Excellence and Every|Day Hero focused learning is experienced, participants will leave BE THE PERSON | 2012…
This event came about through a wonderful friendship and partnership with Mike Dilbeck and the RESPONSE ABILITY Project. Exactly as our Social Excellence book describes, we shook Mike’s hand, engaged in conversation, built a meaningful relationship based on trust over time, realized we had shared passions, collaborated, and organized to create this exciting event.
We’ve been working closely with Mike to build a truly one-of-a-kind experience. Here are some things we’re planning for June 3-6 in Chicago.
All participants (professionals and students) will be treated as magnificent, knowledgeable, capable adults who have the potential to lead meaningful change in their community and in the world.
The real learning of the event will take place “in the streets.” Literally. Our classroom will be the neighborhoods, people, culture, and energy of Chicago. From Michigan Avenue to the strong nonprofit sector of the “Second City,” we’ll take Phired Up’s lessons of Social Excellence and RESPONSE ABILITY’s Every|Day Hero message and experiment with it in intensive real-life learning situations.
We’ll all be staying on-site, sharing rooms, building community, and deeply caring about one another. We’ll work to create a concentrated experience of connection, relationships, and shared passions.
Everyone will walk away with the ability to gather others around the messages of Social Excellence and being Every|Day Heroes within the collegiate communities in which they live, learn, and work.
We have capped the attendance to make sure we create an intimate learning experience for people who truly want to dive head first into Social Excellence and becoming an Every|Day Hero.
We deeply believe this event will help prepare people as modern LEADERS for today’s society. We think it will help people discover a new level of confidence in the way they interact with the world. We think it will allow people time to build a personal plan to make a mark, leave a legacy, and change the world in whatever way they want to. We think it will help participants with membership recruitment, organizational image, innovation, and community relationships.
When our team at Phired Up and Mike Dilbeck starting talking about this idea, we realized it could fail. We realized people might not be interested. We knew that it could embarrass us, or we could easily screw it up. But then we remembered what we teach others. Take action, don’t just talk. Do something important. The right people will show up, and magic will happen if you do it for the right reasons. So, if you know people who would like to help us create this experience by being a participant, get them registered a.s.a.p.
By the way, we accidentally scheduled this event at the same time as another awesome event that you might be interested in. The Gathering from AFLV is an event that members of our staff have attended and rave about. So, you should know that’s going on too, and we strongly support AFLV’s innovative programs like The Gathering.
by Josh Orendi
My wife and I are due on February 11th with our first child — a daughter that is showing early signs of becoming a soccer player. This week, we took our first pregnancy preparation class. Our instructor, Tamara, shared a piece of advice that is so relevant to leadership that I had to pass it along. I’ll paraphrase. She said:
“We all know the big day comes with pain. We all know that there will be craziness around us. Dads, this is when you need to step up. You are her support team; her coach. Breathing exercises are a way for the two of you to connect, calm, and focus. You are a team. When you notice that she is not breathing, DO NOT tell her to breathe. She’s more likely to punch you than she is to hear your instructions. Instead, hold her hand gently, look into her eyes, tell her you love her, and begin to breathe yourself. Say, ‘breathe with me.’ and she’ll respond. You can do this together….”
Breathe with me. That’s such a simple but powerful reminder. Less instruction. More hand-in-hand, loving, demonstration of what needs to be done together (especially on the big day).
This lesson has me thinking of campus professionals that say, “I tell them the same thing … for some reason it’s like they hear it for the first time when you say it.” It reminds me of chapter leaders that say, “how many times do I have to tell them!?!?” It reminds me of my headquarters friends that tell stories of feeling like they are ’spinning their wheels’ or ‘talking to a wall.’ Our alumni sometimes say, “is it really that hard … in my day … they just don’t get it.” The lesson even reminds me of my parents. I was the worst offender of being dismissive or defensive when they told me what I was doing wrong.
Recruitment seasons create high tension environments ripe with these moments.
Compassionate leaders/teachers/coaches/advisors/consultants/chapter and council officers often come to realize the power of being present in the moment, listening deeply, empathizing, and doing it together. Speaking in the voice that your recipient can hear is an art form. Committing to do it together as a team. Leading by example. This is quite a bit different than dropping by to “check in,” barking direction, sending a passive-aggressive text/email, or rolling your eyes (all are examples I am personally guilty of doing).
So, whether you are having a baby or just dealing with one, a few more patient moments of brotherly/sisterly love is more likely to yield the result that everyone is looking for. Breathe with me.
by Matt Mattson
We often get asked, “Does Phired Up Productions do anything for culturally-based fraternities & sororities (like NPHC, NALFO, NMGC, NAPA, etc.)?”
The answer is, and always has been, a resounding YES. And we do it well, but there is more work to be done. I’m proud to announce that we’re forming a task force of innovative professionals in the field to help us build more educational resources specifically for culturally-based Greek Letter organizations. For now, we wanted to make sure we shared a bit of our philosophy…
Margaret Mead once said, “Never doubt that a small group of committed citizens can change the world. Indeed it is the only thing that ever has.” This oft-quoted phrase explains the inspiration for our company, for our philosophy, and for our work. It also goes a long way toward explaining the genesis of most culturally-focused fraternal organizations – groups of driven individuals with a shared cultural background gathered together to change their world in a meaningful way. Culturally-based fraternities and sororities were founded to make a meaningful impact on society — to change the world — and the best way to do that is to ensure that there is always a high quantity of high quality people to achieve that mission. That’s what we do — we help cause-based membership organizations find the people they need to change their world.
The word “recruitment” is often frowned upon by some members of some culturally-based fraternal groups (and for good reason). Often that word is related to the style of organizational growth that NIC and NPC groups utilize — and that style doesn’t match the values of some culturally-based fraternal groups. However, that doesn’t change the need for culturally-based groups to attract people to their cause. So, it is important to not necessarily connect the word “recruitment,” and all it’s Greek connotations, with attracting high quality people to an organization. Let’s simplify it.
Want to learn more? Check out this informational document for culturally-focused fraternities & sororities.
We will launch more resources in the future to meet the unique needs and opportunities presented by culturally-based fraternal organizations. We see that the future of the fraternal movement is tightly tied to the success of the organizations that are most relevant to today’s (and tomorrow’s) students. Thanks to all the organizations and universities that have brought Phired Up’s messages of Dynamic Growth and Social Excellence to their culturally-based fraternal leaders.
Our whole Phired Up team is traveling to an important conference for college fraternity/sorority advisors this week. We’re very excited to go to the educational sessions, listen to the keynote speakers, and enjoy the festivities. But we know that if we want to deeply connect to the best people who can help us change the world, we need to go to the conference in the spirit of GIVING FIRST.
Organizations that give first will find themselves connected to a lot of amazing people, so that’s our plan. We’ll be using the lessons we teach about Dynamic Recruitment and Social Excellence throughout this big conference of over 1100 people. Want a sneak peak at how we’re giving first (and some ideas you could use for your organization)? Here you go…
At this year’s AFA Annual Meeting in St. Louis, many attendees spot Vince Fabra and Shira Tober wandering around with Polaroid cameras. It isn’t an official part of the conference, but these two Phired Uppers thought they’d create an in-the-halls Social Excellence experience for everyone. They’ll be working hard to snap pictures, engage people in Fun Zone/Deep Zone conversations, and then give them social challenges to build quick, new, fun relationships throughout the conference. We’re secretly serving as unofficial hosts!
Other select attendees will receive secret Social Excellence dares designed just for the conference. Will they or won’t they take the dares? Will they or won’t they choose Social Excellence? It is up to them.
About 20 specially selected AFA members will be recognized as Social Excellence Superstars at Phired Up’s exhibit booth, with their names and pictures on display — we’re trying to make our booth about the movement, not about how awesome we are (although we are awesome).
Several Phired Up team members will be conducting video interviews with conference attendees about the way they’re helping organizations grow and change the world. We want to give others a platform to share their messages.
We’ll be making a big donation to a charitable organization we deeply support — giant over-sized check and all!
We’ll be giving attendees an opportunity to share their recommendations for chapters who should take our upcoming FREE CHAPTER RECRUITMENT DIAGNOSTICS TEST. This will be launched officially later this week!
We’ll be giving free Good Guys or I Heart Recruitment books to all the graduate student attendees!
We’ll be modeling Social Excellence. We’ll be introducing old friends to new friends. We’ll be asking interesting questions. We’ll be handing out prizes (copies of our new book). We’ll be building our names list of relationships and friends. We’ll be tweeting like crazy about all the amazing stuff we’re learning and people we’re meeting.
All in all, we’re going to try to be as generous as possible. We’re going to reach out and try to make everyone feel welcome and connected. We’re going to choose to be the company that isn’t there to sell stuff, but is there to make the conference a little more fun, a little more personal, and a lot more social. We figure if we do that, people will like us and our business will take care of itself.
This is what we teach organizations to do. So, this is what we do. Give first.
